Will US forge a coalition to protect Gulf trade?

The United States is working on bringing its allies to unite in a military coalition to protect strategic sea trade routes off the coast of Yemen and Iran where Washington blames Iran and Iran-aligned fighters for attacks on oil tankers, the top U.S. general said Tuesday.

According to this recently proposed plan, the United States navy would provide command ships and lead surveillance efforts for the military coalition. Allies would patrol waters near those U.S. command ships and escort commercial vessels with their nation's flags.

the United States would provide command ships and lead surveillance efforts for the military coalition. Allies would patrol waters near those U.S. command ships and escort commercial vessels with their nation's flags.

"We're engaging now with a number of countries to see if we can put together a coalition that would ensure freedom of navigation both in the Straits of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab," Dunford said. "And so I think probably over the next couple of weeks we'll identify which nations have the political will to support that initiative and then we'll work directly with the militaries to identify the specific capabilities that'll support that."